Monday, July 3, 2017

Cardboard Construction

About once a year I get bitten by the cardboard box bug...hate to throw them away!  It is inspiring to look around and see how many different things can be made with cardboard boxes.

With the advent of multi-colored duck tape, the construction ends up being tidier, easier, and pretty good looking.  Of course, you don't want to sit on your construction...or leave it in the rain... or throw it at your annoying sibling.  But if you play carefully, you can have a dizzying array of doll houses for pennies, and a bit of your time.


This two room cottage for Mini Hitty was made with boxes we get our vitamins in.  Since they come monthly, I have an impressive stash of boxes; probably enough to make a village!


In addition to the boxes, I used scrap book papers and colored duck tape, both from Michaels.  Modge Podge for glue, and a couple of old paint brushes to apply the glue with.

I papered the ceilings first, then the walls and finally the floors.  I also papered the outside, then taped the first floor to the second floor with white duck tape.  

I used the duck tape to cover all the raw edges of the cardboard.  If the tape was too wide, I laid it on my cutting mat and sliced it with my boxcutter the width I wanted it.

To support a craft stick fence on the balcony, I used lengths of basswood glued to the edge of the balcony, for the fence to then be glued to.



One of the box flaps was left attached to the upstairs, to form the front of the roof.  I used a bit of cereal box cardboard to make a rafter to support the top of the roof:


 you can see it here on the roof of the barn; and this is what the finished roof looks like:


The living room furniture is made of a cardboard frame, then covered with a crocheted slipcover.   Instructions for making the chair and sofa are here:


The coffee table is a wood plaque with four small wood spools for legs.  I glued a piece of lace to the top of the table, then glued ric-rac around the edge (this was the hardest part of the entire construction!  the ric-rac would not stay put!)


The bed is made from four clothespegs glued to a cardboard frame the size of the mattress.  To make the mattress frame stronger, cut two pieces of cardboard and glue them together, then glue on the clothespegs at the four corners of the bed.  One side of the peg is sawed off, so the frame fits onto the stub of the sawed off peg.  The bed is dressed with stash lace for skirting, and Warm&Natural cotton batting for the mattress and pillow.  The coverlet is knit.


I added a peg rack made from a craft stick, with tiny wood spools as the pegs, covered with colored mini buttons.  Mini Hitty can hang her clothing here.

The LLama's needed a home of their own, so with one box and some red duck tape they now have a barn:


Two box flaps were cut down to half size and used for the barn doors.  Another box flap was left in place and trimmed to look like the gable front of the barn roof.  I used a separate piece of cardboard to make the back side of the barn and roof; cut the top to the same shape as the front gable of the roof, then glue this piece of cardboard to the back of the barn box.

Instead of scoring the cardboard for the roof, I used the edge of my work table to crease it, then glued it to a cereal cardboard rafter.

Try to keep things simple and let the boxes do most of the work :-)


Enjoy!




24 comments:

  1. love the cardboard barn and house.. are you going to have templates or measurements


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Jannett, thank you for the good words.

      There are no templates for the house...just pick a likely sized box and let it determine your dimensions.

      warmly,

      Beth

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  2. I love your creativeness. These are so cute!

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  3. felicidades por tu idea, por tu trabajo y por la explicación con fotos y todo.
    me ha gustado mucho.

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  4. My goodness Beth, your imagination and talent really has no bounds does it? Amazing, fun, colourful and just perfect. Loved seeing these latest cardboard box transformations.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much, Lorraine :-)

      warmly,

      Beth

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  5. Bonita combinación de colores y dibujos.

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    Replies
    1. Muchas gracias, Isabel :-)

      con gusto,

      Beth

      Delete
  6. Beth,

    These houses are so adorable. I'm glad I'm not the only one who has a "thing" for boxes! I haven't found a truly creative use for mine yet, but now you've given me some ideas! Thank you !

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for the good words, Momma Cat :-)

      warmly,

      Beth

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  7. Qué bonito!!! Y qué muñequitas tan preciosas! Qué fuerza tiene la imaginación, verdad? Es capaz de transformar algo mediocre el algo precioso! :)

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    Replies
    1. Muchas gracias por las buenas palabras, Zuleta. Lo que usted dice es muy cierto; la imaginación es infinita:-)

      con gusto,

      Beth

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  8. Thank you so much, dear Joyce! And thank you for creating such a dear doll to play with :-)

    warmly,

    Beth

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  9. Love it. The rick rack gives it the feel of a mini Lalaloopsy doll house that my Sis owns. I love making things with cardboard boxes. :)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much! This was a LOT of fun to make :-)

      warmly,

      Beth

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  10. First, I absolutely adore your blog! I love dolls and dollmaking and recently got into crochet dolls and amigurumi; your posts and free patterns are a brilliant source of inspiration! Not to mention, I have a set of twin nieces on the way, so I am looking forward to many years of making dolls as gifts. :D

    Anyhow, I came across these free patterns for crochet furniture and accessories for Barbie & Kelly fashion dolls and thought I would pass them along. If you search the site using keywords "Fashion Doll" or "Doll", it'll return a lovely variety of free doll clothes, furniture and craft patterns (including clothespin dolls). Definitely worth checking out!

    Kelly Furniture:
    http://www.freepatterns.com/detail.html?code=FC00889&cat_id=333

    Barbie Teepee:
    http://www.freepatterns.com/detail.html?code=FC00891&cat_id=333

    Christmas Fireplace:
    http://www.freepatterns.com/detail.html?code=FC00888&cat_id=333

    Also, I was wondering if you've ever considered making plastic canvas furniture and/or houses for your little dolls? There are a number of pattern books and leaflets to be found on ebay for old Annie's Attic and similar fashion doll plastic canvas (and crochet) items. Try googling "plastic canvas fashion doll" and you will find a ton of inspiring ideas.

    Enjoy!

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  11. A continuation of my previous comment. I discovered a great plastic canvas castle pattern you may be interested in:
    https://www.leisurearts.com/fairy-tale-castle.html

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    Replies
    1. Hello Rachel,

      Thank you so much for your lovely comments, and all the neat links! I love any kind of tiny dollmaking...furniture of plastic canvas and crochet, along with cardboard and anything else that can be turned into a tiny doll seat :-)

      Annie's Attic's old patterns are a GREAT source of designs for dolls; and if the design seems too big, you can always crochet it in a finer thread and smaller hook. Lots of folks will be happy to have the links you have listed.

      So glad you found your way here; enjoy the doll play!

      warmly,

      Beth

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  12. I so love this post!!! There really is nothing better than a homemade dollhouse! If you haven't already read it Giselle Potter's book "This Is My Dollhouse" would be an absolute delight for you. It is a children's picture book and therefore a quick read but the message is huge! Happy Playing, natalie jo

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much, Natalie Jo! I loved making this doll house, and it is now sitting pride of place in the living room :-)

      And thank you for the book recommendation; I will see if our library has it.

      warmly,

      Beth

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